The video service combines smaller videos and some original
content from partners including the BBC, ESPN, and Maker Studios.
At the announcement event, Spotify said Vice News, ABC, and
others were also onboard.

The roll out is starting in the US, UK, Germany, and Sweden,
according to Spotify, and will eventually expand to other markets
and iPhone users.

Spotify was not clear on what kinds of videos would be pushed to
users. The company has found that video that links in with the
music — such as Maker Studio's "Epic Rap
Battles" series — do better than others and has used the
initial roll-out as an opportunity to work out what works and
what doesn't.

"We are at the end of a journey of testing," Shiva Rajaraman,
Spotify's vice president of product told the WSJ. "We are going
out effectively as planned. Our goal was largely to get a wide
breadth of content and experiment and test."

One problem that Spotify does face is the kind of devices users
access the service on. Smartphone users tend to leave the app
running in the background, which makes pushing videos harder.
Desktop users do exist, but often minimise Spotify and do other
things.

"Obviously our primary user is a music fan, and they are not
necessarily leaning in and looking into the app," said Rajaraman.
"So there are no particular recipes for how to get this right."

The videos are not accompanied by adverts at the moment, but the
company has plans to in the future. Spotify currently has two
revenue sources: Adverts for non-subscribers and subscription
revenue. CEO Daniel Ek has described video as "an important
revenue source" in the future.

"We are doing fine on monetization. This is primarily a demand
play," said Rajaraman.